EMERSON SHARPLEGH NORRIS

Date of Birth: October 31, 1911
Place of Birth: Portland, ME
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
Place Buried:  

Date of Marriage: October 1, 1938
Place of Marriage: Mansfield, MA - 5 Branch Street
Wife: Christine Margaret [Martin] Norris

Daughter: Carol Cambridge Norris
Daughter: Cynthia Margaret Norris
Daughter: Eugenia Christine Norris
Son: Walter Emerson Norris

Father's Full Name: Walter Henry Norris
Mother's Full Name: Effie Louise Sharpleigh

Education, degrees, awards, organizations:  MIT 1953

Notes: From Christine (Martin) - wife of Emerson

My father was so pleased with Emerson. He said “I’m in love with Emerson, too.” Dear Papa. I was married in the parlor [at 5 Branch Street, Mansfield, Mass.]. We were to have been married in the Mansfield Methodist Church, but my father died August 16, 1938. His funeral was in the church and I could not go through with our wedding there so soon afterwards. Glen gave me away. Garland, my oldest brother played the piano and sang “Because”, and I think one other song. Prescott ran many errands. I could drive, but had no license. The wedding dinner was at the Mansfield Tavern; $1.00 each---a wonderful dinner. I could have only 40 guests, as I had only $40 left. I paid for the wedding dinner with the last of my money.

Christine, as noted on the back of her wedding photo

My dress had a long train [and orange blossoms made of wax from which the veil hung]. Eugenia wore the same orange blossoms in 1965. Carol made her own [wedding] dress but put mine on in the afternoon. Today is Dec. 6, 1999. I am 87.

Christine, as noted on the back of another wedding photo

Notes: From Cynthia and Carol Norris (Daughters of Emerson and Christine (Martin))

Mother and Dad were married in her home in Mansfield, Mass., on Oct. 1, 1938, just a week or so after the big hurricane. Dad was barely able to get to Mansfield because the roads were so littered with trees and debris. When he got to Foxboro, his car became hemmed in by fallen trees. He had to walk the last five miles.

Mother was to have been married in her local church. However, her father had died of a heart attack six weeks before the wedding. She could not bear the thought of getting married in the church where his funeral had just taken place.

She had only $24 to spend on her wedding celebration, money she herself had earned/saved. (To illustrate what $24 meant: this was at the end of the Depression. Mother, with her mother’s help, had sent herself to college by sewing aprons for ten cents apiece.) Mother had her wedding reception---a sit-down dinner---at the Mansfield Hotel. The cost was $1.00 per person. The Norrises brought an extra (uninvited) family member, and Mother didn’t have the money to pay for that person’s dinner. Grandpa Norris paid.

Cynthia and Carol, their daughters                                                                                                                                                           

 Occupation(s): Metallurgist Revere copper & brass, New Bedroed MA 1938-1945; Sylvania Salem MA 1943-1945; Sylvania Long Island NY 1945-1957; Comptroller, financial advidor, Channing Corp 1957-1970. Emerson finished and repaired all pieces of antique furnityre in our house. Severe stroke January 8, 1975 w/miraculous recovery.

Residences:

Last Known Address:

2014-05-12